CHOICE promotes more sustainable and profitable olive farming in Andalusia
On 28 August 2026, CHOICE partner Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía presented the project’s olive grove engagement campaign, bringing CHOICE’s work on sustainable agriculture closer to farmers and professionals from the Andalusian olive sector.
Representing Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de Andalucía, Dr Obdulia Parra, R+D+i Technician, presented the CHOICE campaign “Olive Groves with a Future: More Profitable Olive Groves”, highlighting the importance of combining more sustainable agricultural practices with the economic realities and long-term viability of olive farms.
The participation provided an opportunity to share the work of the CHOICE Spanish Pilot and engage directly with actors who play an important role in shaping the future of olive farming in Andalusia.
Olive groves at the heart of the CHOICE Spanish Pilot
Olive farming is deeply connected to the economy, landscape and rural communities of Andalusia. At the same time, olive growers face increasing environmental and economic pressures that make sustainable and resilient farm management increasingly important.
Within its Spanish Pilot, CHOICE works with farmers and agricultural cooperatives in Andalusia to encourage the adoption of more sustainable farming practices and support climate-conscious change across the agricultural sector.
Olive farmers are among the pilot’s key audiences. The project seeks to understand the challenges that can influence the adoption of new practices and to develop engagement approaches that respond to farmers’ actual needs and circumstances.
This means looking not only at environmental benefits, but also at the factors farmers consider when making decisions: costs, profitability, productivity, available resources and the long-term resilience of their farms.
“Olive Groves with a Future: More Profitable Olive Groves”
Dr Parra’s presentation focused on the CHOICE campaign “Olive Groves with a Future: More Profitable Olive Groves.”
At the heart of the campaign is a clear message: sustainability and profitability should not be viewed as competing objectives.
For sustainable practices to become part of everyday agricultural management, they need to make sense within the realities of farming. Environmental benefits are important, but farmers also need to understand how different practices may contribute to the resilience, productivity and economic sustainability of their farms.
Through its engagement campaigns, CHOICE aims to make this connection clearer.
Instead of communicating climate action as an abstract objective, the project translates sustainability into messages that are more directly connected to farmers’ decisions and priorities. In this way, climate-conscious choices can be presented as part of a broader vision for stronger and more future-ready olive farms.
Why this matters to CHOICE
Participation in events and technical discussions with the agricultural sector is particularly important for CHOICE because the project is built around bringing scientific knowledge and behavioural insights closer to the people making real-world decisions.
In the Spanish Pilot, olive farmers and agricultural cooperatives are key stakeholders. Engaging with them directly helps CHOICE better understand the conditions in which sustainable choices are made and the barriers that may prevent new practices from being adopted.
Presenting “Olive Groves with a Future: More Profitable Olive Groves” directly to the sector also allows CHOICE to move beyond research and modelling and bring its messages into real agricultural contexts.
This direct interaction is essential to the project’s wider ambition of making climate-conscious change participatory, accessible and relevant.
CHOICE does not approach farmers simply as an audience that needs to receive information. It seeks to involve them as active participants in the transition towards more sustainable food and agricultural systems.
By connecting scientific evidence, behavioural understanding and stakeholder engagement, CHOICE can help make sustainability more meaningful at farm level and support choices that respond to both environmental challenges and farmers’ economic priorities.
For CHOICE, this is an important part of building lasting change: empowering farmers with relevant knowledge and placing their experience at the centre of a more sustainable, resilient and viable future for olive farming.
